They found Josh Howard dead in the woods about two miles past the old Stuckagain Heights restaurant.

Two hard-core hikers climbing with three dogs toward Knoya
Peak in the Chugach foothills spotted Howard about 4:40 p.m. in the north fork
of the Campbell Creek drainage. He lay on his back - "as if he had
slipped" - about 3500 vertical feet from the crest of a hill with a beautiful
view of Anchorage, said Richard Baranow, a medical technician and one of the
hikers.

Baranow noticed the body about 20 feet off the trail when the
dogs gathered around it. From the position of the body, Baranow speculated
that Howard was heading back down the hill when he fell.

"Who knows why
he died," Baranow said Monday after Howard was officially identified through a
fingerprint comparison.

"I've seen a lot of dead bodies . . . I do a lot
of climbing. If I would ever have to die, that's the kind of place I would
like to die in. Much better than a hospital bed."

Baranow thought
he recognized Howard from the posters family and friends have tacked to most
every bulletin board in town. The body also wore a gold bracelet inscribed
"W.A. Howard." So Baranow and his companion hiked back to their car,
parked on the Stuckagain Heights road and drove to the University of Alaska
Anchorage where he checked one of the posters to confirm his suspicion and
reported the find to Anchorage police.

An Alaska State Troopers helicopter landed in the broken meadow Monday morning and lifted out the body
after investigators searched and videotaped the scene, AST Investigator Darlene
Turner said.

The body was fully dressed, according to Investigator Ron
Emmons, head of missing persons for the Anchorage Police Department. There
were no signs of violence, no note, no new clue why Howard took his last walk or
if he knew he would not be coming back.

Although he appears to have succumbed to hypothermia, the actual cause of death must await autopsy results,
including tests for the presence of drugs or alcohol, Emmons said.

Pathologist Donald Rogers expects the body to be thawed enough for
an autopsy today, but said test results won't be available for at least three
days.

Howard, 19, vanished on a Friday afternoon after several days of
delusional behavior, according to friends who saw him that week. He was hearing and
seeing things others didn't and said at least once that he was God, that he wanted
to be one with nature.

Two different sets of people tried to get Howard into a hospital on Thursday, the day before he disappeared, but each
time he backed off, preferring to go home. On Friday, according to his
stepfather, Mike Jacober, Howard seemed normal after a good night's sleep.
Jacober dropped him off at UAA at about 2:30 p.m. on Friday. Howard was a
freshman drama student and had left his car there the previous evening.

About 3 p.m. the same day, someone reportedly noticed Howard's car parked at the Totem Theater, but
Howard never showed up. Many sightings of Howard were reported to police
over the intervening month, but Emmons said the only reliable trail ended at the
parking lot.

Howard could easily have walked from Muldoon to where he was
found, Baranow said. An access trail starts behind the theater and joins
an established trail up the north fork canyon.

Howard was widely known in the community from his occasional TV acting jobs and as a popular tennis
teacher. He graduated from Diamond High School last year.

John Hendrickson, who knew Howard
through tennis and helped with efforts to locate the missing youth, called his
death extremely painful. Hendrickson said he hopes it helps people learn
to "pay close attention to family or friends when they change their behavior . .
. and to have the courage to do something, no matter how difficult it
is."